Wood-surfacing machine



2 Sheets--Sheet 2 L HOUSTON Wood Surfacing Machine. No. 233,620.

FFICG LEVI HOUSTON, OF MONTGOMERY, PENNSYLVANIA.

WOOD-SURFACING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters 'Patent No. 233,620, dated October 26, 1880.

Application filed August 23, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEVI HOUSTON, of Montgomery, in the county of Lycoming and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in VVood-Surfacing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement, in a surfacing or analogous woodworking machine, of a single long cutter-head and two short independentlyadjustable feed-rolls located on opposite sides of the machine, so that two boards of unequal thickness may be fed at the same time to the cutter-head.

In the use of surfacing machines it frequently becomes desirable to pass two or more narrow boards through the same at one time, and as the boards vary in thickness, it is very difficult to cause them to feed properly, the machines being made with a long feed-roll extending from side to side, which-must sink at one end to act upon the thin board, and which consequently bears only upon the edges of the two boards. This trouble I overcome by using two short feed-rolls instead of a single long one, and mounting them so that they can rise and fall independently of each other without losing their horizontality, and without interrupting the positive action of the driving devices. To secure this end I mount each roll in a frame swinging upon a transverse driving-shaft, which latter carries pinions en gaging with gear-wheels on the rolls.

Figure 1 represents a topplan view of my improved machine, with the rollers and their connections on one side shown in section 5 Fig. 2, a transverse vertical section of the machine on the line a 00; Fig. 3, a longitudinal vertical section in the line 3 y.

A represents the frame and bed of the machine; B, the surfacing or reducing cutter eX- tending across the machine from side to side; 0 G, the feed-rolls, located transversely above the bed; and D, the swinging frames in which the rolls are mounted.

The machine may have any suitable number of feed-rolls; but in the drawings I have shown two pairs, each pair consisting of two short rolls arranged end to end. Each roll is mounted in a separate swinging frame, and all the frames mounted, by arms or lugs a on their sides, on a single transverse shaft, E. This arrangement permits each roll to rise and fall, and adjust itself to the thickness of the material beneath it independently of the others.

As a means of driving the rolls, I provide each one at the outer end with a pinion, c, and provide the shaft E with pinions e, gearing therein, and also with one or more pulleys, d, to receive a driving-belt.

The two pinions 0 may be fast on the shaft E, in which case one pulley will serve to drive the rolls on both sides of the machine; or either one or both of the pulleys may be loose on the shaft, in which case the two pulleys must be driven separately. Under this arrangement the rolls on one side are actuated independently of those on the other, allowing those on either side to be stopped or changed in speed regardless of the others. In the present maehineI have adopted the last-named arrangement.

It will be seen that under the above-described arrangement each feed-roll receives a positive action while free to move vertically, as required, and that consequently a thick board may beiutroduced on either side of the machine and a thin one on the other, and both carried forward to the cutter by the rolls restin g firmly and squarely upon them.

When the weight of the frames and rolls will not hold the latter down with sufficient pressure, weights, screws, springs, or other means will be employed for the purpose.

It is to be noted in reference to my machine that the short rolls are feed-rolls; that they are driven positively; that each is free to rise and fall independently of the others and automatically, according to the thickness of the lumber beneath it; and that there is a free and unobstructed space beneath and between each of the short rolls and its companion on the opposite side of the machine, so that a single wide board may be passed beneath both rolls.

The above features of construction enable the machine to surface indiscriminately wide and narrow, thick and thin lumber. Two narrow boards of different thicknesses may pass through at the same time, or with equal facility the machine will feed a single board of the full Width of the machine, and this without regard to its thickness.

I am aware that a surfacing-machine has been made with two vertically-moving independent press-rolls on opposite sides to force the lumber upward against an endless feedingapron, and this I do not claim; but

What I do claim is- 1.. In a wood-surfacing machine, the combination of two short independent self-adj ustin g feed-rolls located on opposite sides of the machine, and arranged with overhead supports, as shown, so that a single wide board may he passed beneath the two rolls, or a narrow board passed beneath each roll, as described.

2. In awood-planing machine, the combination of a cutter-head extending from side to side, and two independent power-driven gravitating feed-rolls arranged on opposite sides of the machine and retained in place by overhead supports, as shown, whereby a free open space is provided for the passage of a wide board beneath both rolls.

3. The combination of the long cutter-head, the short gravitating rolls, located as described, shaft E, independent frames D, wheels 0, and the independent pinions 0, having pulleys (I attached, as shown.

LEVI HOUSTON.

Witnesses:

DENNIs SCULLY,' J. Tnno. Hnss. 

